It's becoming a common sight on Facebook: people using the social media site as leverage in family debates.

"Our papa promises we can get a cat if we get 1000 likes - please like this picture!"

"Our dad said we could get a puppy if we get 1 million likes - so like this!"

But one family has gone one step further. Their post shows a grinning toddler holding a sign that reads "Daddy says if I can get 100,000 likes I can have a little brother or sister! Please like!"

The image has had a mixed reception. Many Facebook users have pointed out that that's not actually how babies are made, while others are outraged that anyone would even joke about having a child for a bit of Facebook fame.

But it's not as bad it first seems. The mother of the toddler, Vicki Ray, who lives in England, explained her situation in an email to the Huffington Post - and she says she and her husband had already decided to have a second baby before posting the photo.

The Huffington Post reported:

Vicki explained ... the photo was "not our version of family planning" as much as the fact that "we have seen all those photos going around Facebook with hundreds of thousands of likes and just wondered if that could actually happen!"

It's actually lucky Vicki and her husband aren't waiting on the 100,000 likes to try to conceive another child if that's what they really want. It seems people are hesitant to click a button to change the shape of another person's family; at the time of writing, and since being posted on January 26, the photo has received only 5175 likes.

And in case you're wondering - the other pleas mentioned in this article were successful. The first family, the Urbanos of Massachusetts, adopted their new cat, Hairyette Pawturr, from a rescue shelter in November, while Millie the rescue pup joined her new home, with the Cordells of Canada, in January. Happy endings all round.